Hurston Rhetorical Analysis

Hurston uses an abhorring tone when she describes Mrs. Turner’s hypocrisy. Mrs. Turner, despite being a black woman, believes that black people should not be subjected to the same level of respect as white people. Mrs. Turner believes that a person’s whiteness is equated with the amount of respect he or she deserves. Hurston uses phrases like “insensate cruelty”, as well as biblical imagery, to convey her tone. Hurston finds Mrs. Turner’s criteria for determining the worth of others to be illogical and unfounded. She compares Mrs. Turner’s system to “the pecking-order in a chicken yard” (144). Hurston’s simile allows for her to compare Mrs. Turner’s system to a hierarchical system imposed by unintelligent animals in a disgusting and filthy
Concrete diction is used when Hurston describes the men as “loud-talking” and “staggering” (149). Furthermore, concrete diction is used when the men are described as “white” and the town as “colored” (149). Hurston uses descriptive language, or language that humans can perceive with the five senses, to describe the rambunctious behavior of the drunk men. She also uses this language to allow the reader to feel as if he or she is part of the communion in order to achieve the full effect of dining together. The reader is able to visualize the energy radiating from the town, from the drunk men stumbling down the sidewalk to police cars scrambling about the city to the physical qualities of the men causing the
The hurricane is symbolic of the lack of power people have over their own lives. Hurricanes and other natural disasters do not discriminate when it comes to inflicting damage; they affect people of all ethnicities, genders, races, and sexual orientations alike. Janie, Tea Cake, and Motor Boat prove to be powerless against the destructive force of the hurricane, similar to how they prove to be powerless against the decisions imposed by white society. Hurston may also be providing social commentary on white supremacy in society. Although the black characters are staring at the dark, representative of how blacks were grouped together and segregated from whites during this era, their eyes are watching God. As in chapter sixteen, God is representative of white power. No matter what smaller, personal choices blacks make, Hurston argues, whites continue to exert all-encompassing and ultimate power over blacks. The decisions of whites ultimately affect the decisions that blacks can make, as whites exert incredible power over the major economic, political, and social sectors of life in the United States. Janie may be seated on a high chair, but God is seated on the highest